Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates generally to mobile communications and, more particularly, to systems and methods for processing incoming events while performing a virtual reality session.
Description of the Related Art
With the development of computer technology, applications of Virtual Reality have become more and more popular. Virtual reality is an artificial environment that is created with software and presented to the user in such a way that the user suspends belief and accepts it as a real environment. For virtual reality application, a user may use a head-mounted display (HMD), which is a display device worn directly on the head of the user or as part of a helmet, as a display device in order to be immersed in a virtual reality (VR) session. The HMD is capable of receiving and rendering video output from the program running on the computer and/or on the game system. When the HMD is placed by a user on his head for performing a virtual reality session (e.g., a virtual reality game), it is either difficult or impossible to interact with this user's regular phone. When the phone of the user rings, one may have to remove his or her HMD to check on the alert screen of the phone to check the incoming events. This forcefully removes the user from the virtual reality world. Although it certainly would be fine if a legitimate incoming event comes to a phone to which the user must attend, many of the events can indeed be delayed until the virtual reality session finishes. Moreover, in certain virtual reality configurations, a converter kit may convert a smartphone into a virtual reality HMD. In such a case, if this phone is the user's primary daily phone, a downside of this configuration is that it further complicates how a user shall respond to this phone as an alert comes in.
It is therefore desirable to provide systems and methods for processing incoming event while performing a virtual reality session without needing to leave the virtual reality session.